purplepepper

Thanks for the advice FSIA. I can't imagine that I"m the only one in the incoming class that has applied to live in graduate housing, and I haven't heard a peep from my department since receiving an official welcome letter at the end of April. (where they mentioned in a half a sentence that I have to be present for registration, which begins on Sept. 2). Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to wait until more information is available? Hi, Kfed, glad to meet another one who is Princeton-bound! Did you also apply for graduate housing?

Summer laze doesn't last forever. Shit.

Princeton publishes their acceptance info. http://gradschool.princeton.edu/about/d ... able_A.pdf The numbers don't reflect this past admissions cycle, but I imagine they'll update it soon enough. I imagine that the numbers can be misleading as there is no info on subfield, but at least it's a general idea.

That information should be listed in your graduate strudent handbook, which you are more entitled to see if you ask. There should be concrete rules about that kind of thing, so it wouldn't hurt to ask in advance. Or, you could just wait to cross the bridge until you come to it--either way, you should receive a fairly straight forward answer from your DGS. I'd be surprised if you ran into any trouble from simply asking.

Good questions! Got me to reflect a bit on this past year..so for what it's worth: Honestly, I still don't "know" if I want a Ph.D. Now you might say, "hey mims3382, have you read all of those Chronicle articles where they say don't do a Ph.D. in the humanities...go out and get yourself a real job!" Well, I've been accepted into one of the top 5 programs for my field and I'm super excited to do the work and the research (said with an MA in hand). I want to have something to do with my field, but I'm going in with an open mind about the opportunities that may present themselves along the way. I'm not set on the Ph.D. -asst. prof-tenured prof. track. It'd be nice if that worked out, but I know there are other ways to be involved with my interests. I just feel that a Ph.D. is the next step to achieving whatever I'm supposed to achieve. Ok. That did sound a bit like Miss Cleo, but I really believe instinct has a lot to do with it. I started just about now, a little earlier actually (last April). Studied my ass off for the GREs, finished my statement in August. Put it down for a month and rewrote the whole thing in October. (it's funny how bad a first draft can suck). Got recs starting in August, and worked on my writing sample around Oct/Nov. Both. I shot big, but I made damn well sure that I needed to know how into the big schools, and I got into 3 of them. This meant asking, like , everyone. to proofread and for advice. I mean I asked everyone, friends already in phd programs, profs, my sister. It's good to get all that feedback. And I must have completely rewrote my SOP about 7 times. But don't bug anyone too much. If someone doesn't respond, just let it go and move on. I have no publications. Just focused on my statements and made sure I had good LORs. I was successful in meeting prospective advisers ahead of time. Obviously, that has no bearing on whether you'll get in or not, but in the end, if the prof. can put a face to the name and remember who you are when they are reviewing your application, it has to help even a tinsy bit. So go for it, but if they don't respond after 2 emails, just leave it be. It doesn't mean they aren't interested, maybe they have a policy on meeting future students..I'm sure some people are just like that.

Yes, the best thing to do is ask the Consulate. I would imagine though, that if you decide to switch universities, in other words, changing the institution sponsoring you to come to the US, you would need to start over again with the visa. Just a guess, but I'm going through the spousal visa process now, and have heard many a story about people having to start over for various reasons... but before you go insane, just call the consulate.

I thought mine was pretty good -- 25k for 5 years +health (unfortunately the cost of living is on the expensive side) in art history!

yes and yes. I've been out of school for 4 years...and now I wonder how I ever worked like a machine when I was doing my masters (3 seminar papers, 20 pgs each, every 10 weeks!) I tried to do the whole get caught up and read during the summer, but I don't even have the attention span to get through a few pages at a time... oy vey. yeah. it's gonna be a fun 1st semester back at school.

I thought too, that talking about the schools you were accepted to was ok, especially after reading about everyone's experience. Well whatever!! My prof has the whole nice looooong summer to forget how much of a babbling idiot I was

I'm so glad I'm not the only crazy one out there. Dont' really have a funny admission story, just babbled on and on and on and on like an idiot when I went to visit the schools I was accepted to. The problem with babbling was that it got too personal, like, knowing in the back of my mind I wanted to see what some prosepective advisors' reaction would be when I told them that I was bringing my partner with me, so it just turned into something like, "um, so this is something I was wondering if I should bring up, but um I have a partner, and he'll come." answer. "um. ok. sure." silence. "so, I'm deciding between This School and Other School" answer "that's not really something that I'm supposed to know." silence. The pattern continued and continued...... I'm glad I was already accepted and there was no way they could have taken it back (ended up accepting the offer too)

I would think that just attending would be a no. The only reason why I would think to add it, is if for some reason you were selected to attend. I have seen some CVs with workshops attended listed on them, but really, serious involvement in your studies necessarily includes workshop participation. Obviously, if you presented, organized, or served as a discussant, etc. you list it.

Hey, ok. So from my understanding, we aren't allowed to move into housing until Sept. 11th, but have to be on campus for registration on Sept. 2nd? Anyone else in a similar situation? Should I call graduate housing and ask to move in early?

Not one bit of funding. Funding is a major problem with degrees abroad but, let's see. I took out FAFSA loans I think one year totaling $18,000 including school fees and my own spending (and some help from the rents :oops: ) but, since the degree is a full 12 months and it's really impossible to apply for a PhD right after the MA (you'd have to apply just as soon as you get there), I got a job after I finished and the loans are now paid. The length of the degree is a pretty standard 12 months in the UK. I wished it were 2 years, but the work you do in 12 months there is actually roughly equivalent to the work you do in 2 years for the US MA. Didn't go to Courtauld, but that's the place to go for western art. PM me if you have more questions!

just a quick post here. I was accepted to 2 ivies including yale so my advice is: Don't worry about scores. Worry about the qualitative aspects. letters of recommendation are probably one of the most important things, if not the most important, followed by your statement. for the GRE, aim for anywhere above the 90th percentile in verbal, math anywhere above 60th percentile. But really GREs and GPAs are really secondary to the qualitative aspects of the application.

Well, I only did an MA, not an MPhil. I'm not sure if Cambridge works on it's own system, but where I was at school in London the Mphil was not a terminal degree and was only awarded separately if the student didn't pass his/her upgrade to the Phd. So, I suppose by itself, if indeed you are only intending to complete the degree until the Mphil, it would appear as if you dropped out of a PhD program, unless as i mentioned, Cambridge works on it's own system, or unless you explained in your application that you entered intending to only complete an MPhil and explained why. There is plenty of space to do so, and I don't think it'd hurt your chances later of admission in the US if you did so successfully. Actually, I think my applications were greatly strengthened by my UK MA. The great thing about the UK is that so many top scholars come to give presentations and such, and it's so casual over there..I was really able to socialize and meet people I never would have been able to in the US. In the back of my mind I always imagined England to be a kind of resort for scholars, everyone seems to pass through at some point. I learned how to socialize with my professors and likewise got great recs from some really top scholars in the field. There is a lot of "go and figure it out on your own" and not so much hand-holding, but I think this made me a better scholar, I learned how to figure stuff out for myself and learned what questions to ask by being observant. Granted it was great for the MA, but in that environment I wouldn't want to do a Phd where more guidance is needed. As far as job placement, I went abroad straight afterwards, so I couldn't help you on that. I imagine a degree from Cambridge would be well enough recognized as to help you out. It definitely helped me with graduate admissions in the US. as for art/archeology, the department/name of the degree doesn't matter as much as what your research interests will be. At some universities, the department is the same, at some they are different, so I really don't think that'll be a problem. Not sure if I answered all your concerns, if you have more, please feel free to PM me.

If it means anything..I did my MA in the UK and absolutely loved it, one of the best years of my life so far. I'd go with Cambridge cause from what I gather, UK MAs are a lot of tough work and there's a lot of stuff you have to figure out for yourself, but definitely much more fun.

I'm going to disagree with some of the advice that's been posted. Scores do not make an application. Especially for an MA degree. (this comes from first hand experience, my undergrad GPA was lower than a 3.3 and I was admitted into 3 top ten programs for a Phd, including 2 ivies, albeit, I aslo already had a masters). I think your scores are fine for an MA, but if things don't work out this year, do put the effort into retaking the GREs...adcoms like to see improvement. The most important aspects of your application are the qualitative ones. How was your SOP? Did you identify specific research interests? Being too broad and unfocused will definitely not get your application closely looked at. Did you identify a professor you would like to work with? How is your writing sample? How are your LORs? These are much much much more important than scores. A bad score won't sink you if your SOP is strong, but a bad SOP will sink you even if you have perfect scores. If Temple doesn't work out, take a look at your essays and ask as many people that you can how you can improve them.

Has anyone looked at the benefits in their health insurance package? Anything that anyone has found surprising? I'm curious, becuase I didn't pick my school for its health insurance, but I'm wondering if I should have....well nothing I can do about that now. With the school I chose: health insurance is pretty comprehensive except for the fact that it doesnt include preventitive visits! no physical checkups, so does that mean, for us gals no paps or mammograms too? is that normal? am I missing something? Otherwise it's pretty standard, dependent coverage is available for a fee (i think a spouse is something like $1000 for the year), referrals are available, pregnancy benefits, and of course if you are sick or exhibit symptoms an need a diagnosis that's all covered. dental and vision optional. anyone else?

Hey, I'm a Cleveland native (not there now though), so if anyone has any questions about the area, feel free to PM me

In case anyone is interested, or in case this could benefit future readers.... Firstly, thanks to all those who responded, I was able to look at the situation from the outside, and that did help in the end. But I did go against the grain and decided on school B. As most of you mentioned, school A would seem the most reliable choice for several reasons, and I really had no reason to turn them down. A friend of mine said to me, "The future isn't always black and white (i.e. jobs are never guaranteed, and even if a prof. has tenure, who knows what might happen), so if you were an idealist, choose school A. If you were a humanist, choose school B. To tell you the truth, I only half can figure out what it means, but I chose school B, for one major reason: Because the prof. is new (not a new prof, just new to the university, the prof. was hired as a full prof. with tenure), and this is what I found out that through various communications with several faculty, is that they are investing so much energy, or whatever you invest, in this new guy. They are really supporting him--giving him the reign of the department for the first few years, which in turn translates into support for me and plenty of opportunities to get involved in research projects. This was not the case at School A. There were more profs that I could potentially work with at School B, and even though I'll have to be a bit of a trail blazer, that never hurt anyone, right? So that's it in a word..I suppose now only the future will tell if I made the right choice! April 15th is really right around the corner, so good luck to those making last min. decisions.

Ok. That was offensive and unnecessary. I'm from Ohio and it's a wonderful place. Of course it isn't New York or Boston or LA, but it has its charms and it is what it is. There is a reason why it comes up in elections every year--it's an extremely populated state filled with extremes, and that in itself is an interesting culture. Cleveland has one of the best orchestras in the world, one of the best hospitals in the world, and the museum is one of the best in the country. The orchestra in Columbus isn't bad either--I heard Yo-yo Ma there when he first started his Silk Road Project, and they get world famous musicians coming in all the time.I don't know a whole lot about Cincy, except that both Cleveland and Cincy have excellent (and some of the country's best) amusement parks to boot. It's easy to get to Cleveland and Cincy from Columbus too. I did a year at Ohio State, and it's an interesting place. People are very passionate about (American) football, and although it might not be the safest place during football games, it's a kind of culture you won't find outside of America. It's true that some people are very closed minded there, but not everyone, and you just have to appreciate it for what it is.

i'm leaning towards accepting. Funny there aren't more people out there. The graduate school is a glorified dorm--if you like that environment go for it. I did that kind of thing when I was doing my MA and I loved it. But 1 year of it was enough for me and it's either apt. or i'll find my own this time around.

I say, unless you were attending Monkey University going for a degree in poo flinging, bad smells are not good. heck. that's how i made my choice. Smell of adviser, and how likely it would be for them to win a troll look alike contest.

I vote Wisconsin. And no, there is nothing that says you'll be less competitive with an MA from a different school. Actually, I think you'll be better off going somewhere where you can excel in an MA and from there, you can go to a great school for a PhD, fully funded of course. Debt=So not good. MAs are short. If you do well, you can go anywhere later on. And think how good you'll feel knowing that you were able to do it all for free. Do NOT go into debt for a phd. What is important for the MA, is you learn how to develop your research interests, you learn how to network. It's really more about this, and less about publishing (I had none but got accepted to top schools), and even less about putting out original research (although getting experience is helpful). When you apply for a PhD they just want to see how you've developed your ideas, whether you can think for yourself and whether you have the potential to make original contributions to the discipline when you do enter a phd.

in this economy 130k is a lot of money. granted this is undergraduate story, but i have a friend who's brother was turned down for a federal loan to pay for college. he then had to take out a private loan, so he's having to pay back the loan while he's still in college. meaning he has 3 part time jobs on top of a full course load and under an incredible amount of stress. hard to believe. unless you are guaranteed a 6 figure job after graduation, 130k is a lot of money to be in debt.....it'll start to weigh heavily when/if you'd like to get married, have a car, or just want to go out and have fun! i wonder if anyone has opinions to the contrary though...